The Monsters We Call Family

What if the hardest people to face aren't the monsters? They're family.

This week on Horror Heals, Kendall sits down with actor, writer, and producer Rae Jones to celebrate Soul Sisters, a Halloween-set horror short that proves family reunions can be every bit as terrifying as the darkest haunted house.

The film follows three estranged sisters who come together hoping to reconnect, exchange gifts, and put the past behind them. Instead, old wounds reopen, trust is tested, and long-buried trauma collides with dark humor and horror in ways that feel both unsettling and surprisingly relatable.

The conversation quickly becomes personal. Kendall shares how his own adoption journey and relationships with half-siblings unexpectedly mirrored some of the emotions at the heart of Soul Sisters, leading to a thoughtful discussion about fractured families, giving people grace, and the stories we inherit from the people who raised us and the people we find later in life.

It's also a celebration of independent horror and the incredible women bringing fresh voices to the genre.

Rae Jones is an actor, writer, and producer passionate about telling character-driven horror stories that blend emotion, humor, and suspense.

She stars alongside Kamaria Williams, actor, filmmaker, and Horror Heals alum whose previous appearance quickly became one of our favorite conversations about representation, creativity, and finding community through horror. Kamaria continues to champion diverse voices both in front of and behind the camera.

Rounding out the trio is Amber Watson, whose performance helps ground the film's emotional core while navigating the complicated dynamics of sisters trying to reconnect after years apart.

Along the way, Kendall and Rae celebrate practical effects, haunted attractions, horror dates, final girls, and why scary movies have a unique ability to help us process grief, trauma, and the complicated relationships that shape who we become.

Because every family has secrets. Some are just a little deadlier than others.

Is horror good for mental wellness?

Of corpse it is.

In this episode:

• The inspiration behind Soul Sisters
• Three sisters, one Halloween, and a reunion gone terribly wrong
• Family trauma, half-siblings, and found family
• Why horror and comedy belong together
• Independent filmmaking and women in horror
• Horror as catharsis, connection, and community
• Why the monsters we fear most sometimes share our last name

Thank you for listening to Horror Heals. 

Share the show with someone who loves horror and someone who needs a little healing.

If you want to support our guests, check the show notes for links to their work, conventions, and fundraising pages.

You can also listen to our sister podcast Family Twist, a show about DNA surprises, identity, and the families we find along the way.

Horror Heals is produced by How the Cow Ate the Cabbage LLC.

Is horror good for mental wellness? Of corpse it is.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:10

Hello, Boils and Hughes. It's your old pal, Johnkis deer, the voice of the Crickkeeper. And I want to welcome my good fiends of the Horror Heels Podcast. Is horror good for mental wellness? But of course it is!

Corey 0:29

Hey horror heeliacs, it's Corey. One of my favorite things about horror heels is when our guests remind us that horror is never just about the monster. Today's guest, Ray Jones, is an actor, writer, producer, and horror creator whose short film Soul Sisters takes three estranged sisters, puts them together on Halloween night, adds gift-giving, old wounds, broken trust, and just enough sinister energy to make everything go completely off the rails. What I love is that Ray isn't interested in scares for the sake of scares. She wants to explore what happens when trauma shapes who we become, when family fractures of our time, and when the desire for something shiny and new compromises our moral compass. Kendall and Ray also discover they have something unexpected in common. They both understand that families don't always look the way we're told they're supposed to. They talk about half-siblings, reconnection, rejection, giving people grace, and the complicated emotions that come with building a family story that isn't neat or simple. Of course, they also cover haunted attractions, horror's therapy, why scary movies get your blood pumping, and whether watching horror with someone might actually be an aphrodisiac. I'll let you decide that one. Is horror good for mental wellness? Of course it is. Here's Kendall with Ray Jones.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

How do you feel about our crazy premise that horror can be good for our mental wellness?

SPEAKER_06 1:43

I love it. I feel like with horror, the characters are always at a heightened state of being a lot of the time. And we don't really get that permission in life. Whatever we're going through, it's just sort of like keep it together, you know. And so if you are going through something and you are trying to figure out how to navigate those emotions, sometimes watching a film at the right time where it's a psychological thriller or whatever it is, it gives you that permission to breathe, to feel, understand that other people go through it too. I love it. Because nobody really thinks that. But it's more than that in my in my mind. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

Well, and it's funny how this recently came up, but my father died suddenly on May 1st. And I'm so sorry. It it was sudden. My brother had seen him the day before. Everything seemed okay. And then you know, he you know, had a heart attack or a stroke or something and was gone. And immediately that was Friday night. I came home and I said, Corey, we gotta watch some horror. You know what I mean? Like for me, yeah, it was the release, and my dad would have been happy. You know what I mean? Like that was you know, about that. So it to your point, you can be in lots of places in your life, and it can help you.

SPEAKER_06 3:22

I'm so sorry to hear that. Was he a horror fan?

SPEAKER_02 3:26

Well, only only because I think I forced him. So crazy part of my story is Corey and I didn't meet my biological family until 2017. I wow was adopted as an infant, and those parents loved horror, and I was raised with it, but then I found my biological family in 2017 after doing a DNA kit. And in fact, that's why we live in New England. We lived in San Francisco until we made the discovery, and uh I did a DNA kit, found out that my my half-brother and I matched, he'd been looking for me since 1988. And I suddenly found out that my parents are still living. They were 15 and 16 when I was born, which is why I was given up for adoption. But suddenly, after feeling like an only child for 47 years, I suddenly had six half siblings and two living parents, 13 nieces and nephews. And it's actually why we moved to New England because my dad. Yeah, my dad lived here, and my two of his other three kids lived here. So it's been a crazy story. That's what Family Twist, our other podcast, is about.

SPEAKER_06 4:47

That would have been a question, like Family Twist. What does that entail?

SPEAKER_02 4:52

It's all about DNA surprises, it's all about adoptees or donor-conceived people, or you know, very commonly we find people who thought that their dad was their dad all their lives and then suddenly it was somebody else. So it's been a fun, fun uh thing to get to tell other people's story. My story's in there too. That's why we started it. Yes. In your short, there is a sister uh situation that I thought kind of related to family twist.

SPEAKER_06 5:29

Yes, yeah, yeah. That's that's really what it is because their their family dynamic in the film is very um, it's very fractured because they haven't been in close connection for a few years. And one of them is a half sibling, and so it's like trying to balance all of that on top of you know, some stories that they didn't know about when they were younger, and like having that connectivity. It is very interesting. I'm sure maybe it felt kind of overwhelming for you, I'm sure. Kind of inviting and and and seeing and and knowing your family and getting to connect with them. And um, you know, luckily nothing happened in a horror sense like this film when connecting with them.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

Not yet.

SPEAKER_06 6:16

But not yet.

SPEAKER_02 6:19

Well, spoiler, um, I've never spoken to my birth mother. No, she can't, she can't handle it. Uh which okay, whatever. You know, I've been almost, it's getting close to nine years, and so it's like, you know, I had to kind of let that go a bit. Yeah. Because I've struggled with that. I never in my whole life felt rejected ever. And suddenly I thought, I never dreamt that she wouldn't want to know me, but she does not. So it's interesting. But that's my horror element.

unknown 6:59

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 6:59

But that's okay.

SPEAKER_06 7:00

Yeah, yeah, that's okay. Everybody has this. I mean, of course, with society, it's like there's this idea of like how families are supposed to work, how they're supposed to be, how it's supposed to go, and that's what it is. And some people are very lucky that they have that sort of flow. Um we all have different stories and different ways in how we connect and disconnect. And as long as you know that you're holding true to your life and what you're doing, that's important.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

It's hard. But yeah, I'm finally this many years later, I'm finally giving her a little more grace than I used to. I used to be bent out of shape, and it's like, you know what? It is what it is, and I'm happy that I have her two daughters that are my sisters and I'm connected to, and that's beautiful, and that's what I'm getting from this situation, you know.

SPEAKER_06 7:58

There are good things coming from it.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Absolutely. But it's funny because I think of this horror aspect when I first made the discovery, and she didn't want to speak with me. I had a recurring nightmare that something happened to either her or me, and we never got to meet. And it would wake me up. And uh thankfully those have subsided because it's been nine years. But back then it was a real fear for me. Like I wanted to meet her and just once, just to say, I don't blame you for saying whatever.

SPEAKER_06 8:35

So yeah, but and having dreams too, where it sort of correlates to maybe like those corners of your brain that are like this could be a horrific when your mind, when you're in your waking mind, it's like, yeah, this reunion's gonna be great, but then your subconscious is really there telling you something different.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

And Corey laughs at me and says it's because I'm self-important and I never dreamt that anybody could uh not want to meet me. Oh my god. But I just know about myself. Like if I had been forced and she was forced to give me up, that I wouldn't have been able to go to sleep that the night that I found her. You know what I mean? Like I just would have to know my child, but that is not how she's processing this whole scenario. So I wish her well. I hope she gets the therapy that she needs.

SPEAKER_06 9:28

We all need it. Yeah, you know, some people say they don't prefer it. I don't know, you just gotta let it out.

SPEAKER_02 9:35

Yep, it's helped me a lot.

SPEAKER_06 9:37

Yeah. So yeah, letting go sort of creates more space and more room, which is kind of what you see sort of at the end of a horror film. Not every horror film, but it's like, oh, okay, you know, we defeated the demon or we defeated the whatever, and it just feels like we let it go and just gone. Um yeah, and having that sort of yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

Yeah. Well, yeah, what led you to horror as the genre? We've already talked about how it can be useful, but what prompted you three to want to do horror?

SPEAKER_06 10:17

Love horror. When I was little, I watched this. Well, little, I was like 11. But I watched this film called Cellular. I don't know if we've heard of that film. It's not a horror film, it's a thriller. Chris Evans and Kim Basinger and Jason Statham are image.

SPEAKER_04 10:40

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_06 10:41

Like 2004, like older film, and um it was very good. But I remember there's a scene with Kim Basinger where her character's kidnapped uh by Jason Statham, and he was gonna go up to the attic to confront her about something. And her terror, the way she was acting, I put the blanket over my head. I was like, oh my god. And then after that, that feeling in my body, it made me think, oh, that's that's fear, that's terror. And then after that, I kind of felt, I wouldn't say addicted, but I was just sort of like, okay, how did she do that? I want to feel that again. And so it just sort of led me down this path of horror films, and I would watch turtlassic movies with my mom, and I would watch horror and sci-fi with my father. So it was a different combination, but I was mainly on my father's side sometimes because I'm like, yeah, I want to see Alien versus Predator and like I want to see all these things. Um, and so it's I I want to say it just started from there of like, okay, this is this is where I want to be. Um then Car Maria, I met them. We shared a manager a couple years back, and we would be we would get sent lists of like acting classes and workshops and stuff, and they were all similar. And eventually we crossed paths and connected in those classes, and uh they brought up their love of horror, and I was like, Yeah, we're we're we're in it, we we're best friends at this point. So we gotta link up. And they called me because we shot this in 2024, and they called me and and wanted to collab. And I was like, that would be great, let's do it. And Amber, she had known Amber from before and brought her on to the project as well. And Amber and I, we actually went to the same acting conservatory, but we graduated in different, I think it's like a year ahead or behind, but we sort of connected years later with this project, and so we all collectively we didn't have shame. It was like we could talk to each other, people have their own ideas of what they like and what they feel they want to watch, of course, but we all found that in common, and so yeah, we wanted to create a film.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

That's so cool. That's yeah, I love when things are happening like organically because yeah, I feel like some creators are pushed together, and uh yeah, and I yeah, I like it when it happens the way it happened for you. That's so great.

SPEAKER_06 13:25

It's one of those things where you don't know how it's gonna be when you work with friends or work with people that you don't know or that you want to collaborate, you just don't know what the dynamic is gonna be. But we've had a great dynamic, and I feel very lucky for that. I've learned so much from them because we're sort of in this festival circuit right now of submitting to festivals and things like that. And I never done it before, and they both are seasoned with it, and so I've just learned a lot from them in terms of work ethic and what it means to be proactive. So it worked out for the best.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

You're doing the festival circuit, that's tiring, but hopefully it's really rewarding.

SPEAKER_06 14:16

It's cool to see that there are people out there that like they're just these little niche horror festivals, and we're just so happy to submit and be a part of that and hopefully continue the conversation with her short. But I guess for me, one of the things that I really want to sort of continue to do is uh have more black people in horror. And we've seen that sort of cracked open a lot more with uh Jordan Peel, and uh that was really exciting. Ever since I was young, I gravitated toward the horror films that did have white people and white characters, and I always wondered why. It's not that with black cinema we don't have our own horror, but uh, there were just certain ways that we were being shown and depicted more than I think many people really enjoyed. I think we just wanted to see something different from our community, and I wanna continue to do that. And there's some black scream queens that were still, you know, we're coming up. I just want to continue to put that out there because we don't have to be killed off, we could solve the story. So that's another element that makes me really excited about this this year and promotion and stuff, and we are happy to see more representation.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

It's just it took a long time, and kudos to Jordan Peel for you know helping and did it very well. Yes, we love to put on his movies, I think they're really well done.

SPEAKER_06 15:56

Do you have a favorite?

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Uh I'm so bad at movie names. Corey knows them all. Uh is it us?

SPEAKER_06 16:04

Us, yeah. Yes, that one was really good. I love it. You like that one?

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Yeah. And I don't probably know them all as well as Corey, but I'm just a sucker for that. I keep going back to the same ones over and over. Yeah. Which ones do you like to revisit? I'm ridiculous with the Friday the 13th. Oh, Corey's like, oh god, here we go again. Don't get me wrong. But he's like, really, we just watched that. I'm like, that's I need to see, you know, Jason get somebody.

SPEAKER_06 16:39

Yes. And some of the ways where you're just like, oh my god, he's superhuman now. Like something's happening here.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

I know. Oh my gosh. That that was always intriguing to me too. Like he's protected person, but he obviously there's some supernatural element, you know. Yes. You can't keep coming back the way he comes back. Exactly. You know?

SPEAKER_06 17:04

Yes. He has 10 lives, cat lives. I know it's nine, but he has more.

SPEAKER_02 17:10

It's an interesting connection. Corey and I, when we flew out here to New England to meet my family for the first time. We flew in, I think, on a Friday, and on Saturday, there was a horror convention happening in Worcester Mass. And we took my half-brother and my half-sister, and each each one of them have brought one of their sons, and we met Kane Hotter together, and he was so gracious, and we told him the story of literally we've physically seen each other for less than 24 hours now. And every time Kane sees Corey at a horror convention, he remembers meeting us, which is just sweet, you know.

SPEAKER_04 18:00

So cool.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

Just a nice guy. I love the connections to horror. Yeah. Oh my god. My local sister, she's an amazing artist, and she's created so many fun images of for us of horror characters, like you know, in the house. She's missed her calling, but uh a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_06 18:24

That's so cool. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. There's this communal aspect about it where you're like, okay, when you're on your own, you feel like such a weirdo, but when you're with other people, it's like, oh hey, yeah, we do like this kind of film, and we're fans, and yeah, that's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Yeah, we even got uh different. Corey's gonna laugh at me for not remembering who he got another horror actor to call my sister on her birthday. You know, it was just comical. It was like a cameo thing, but it was great, and she just got so we keep trying to keep the traditions, you know, keep them alive. Corey and I bonded over horror. We've been together for 21 years, and we bonded immediately way back then.

SPEAKER_06 19:15

With horror.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 19:17

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

He worked in the newspaper industry for 10 years, and okay, he got to go to a lot of screenings. And I love movies, but I always wanted to go with him to screenings of horror films. Yes, we did wow, the money we would have spent was a lot.

SPEAKER_06 19:40

It made it worth it, the connection. Like that's so cool.

SPEAKER_02 19:45

It did. Uh and uh my stepsister that I grew up with said, you know, seeing a horror movie with somebody gets them all frisky. I won't comment about whether she was right, but uh yeah. Yes, that's what it was. Yeah. I don't I think she was just making excuses, but that's okay.

SPEAKER_04 20:16

Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Cool.

SPEAKER_06 20:18

I haven't heard that one yet. I love that.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

It does get your blood pumping, let's put it that way.

SPEAKER_06 20:25

It does. The adrenaline, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:29

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 20:29

We'll we'll leave it there.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 20:36

I feel like with this film, it is about three sisters who come together on Halloween night, and uh they want to break the walls down, break some barriers, do gift giving, and uh some sinister things unfold from that. And um there is unexpectedly comedy and comedic elements in there that we didn't think would work, but they do in different cuts. We're like, yeah, let's leave that because that's really funny.

unknown 21:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:16

Um so it isn't uh fully horror, there really is a nice comedy and comedic balance to it. What we hope to get across with the film is is to really give people the understanding of uh what it means when you you will do anything to get what you want, and when your moral compass is compromised by the shiny little toy over there, and you'll uh maybe kill to get it, you'll do whatever you need to to get it. And also the idea of trusting someone after years of not speaking or communicating and having that trust. Only for it to be um broken in some ways because of the things that happen in the films. And also it really does sort of speak to uh family dynamics, which with the short we don't get too specific on, but with more of a fleshed out version of the film, we kind of want to dive deeper into those family dynamics and uh it really uh does uh shed a light on what traumatic experiences how they shape you when you grow up and the things that you do and the decisions you make and the people that you gravitate toward and the things you like, it does impact you in more ways than you think.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 22:43

Um yeah. So we really wanted to do that. Is your hope to get to doing a more expanded version, like a a deeper dive, a longer I think we're still trying to do like a part two of where we left off from it, and then I think from there maybe sort of see how we can expand both versions. The world is is is uh is our oyster. So we're just trying to figure out how to expand it. But it'd be fun, it'd be really fun.

SPEAKER_02 23:18

And especially if you found a good, like cohesive group and you work together well, and yeah, yeah, that's huge.

SPEAKER_06 23:27

What I was saying before, where it was great, where there was no shame, and it wasn't just in terms of the horror itself, but also just the process of like doesn't have to be embarrassing. It's like we wrote this scene, not feeling it, okay. Let's let's try something else, you know, or any ideas that we've pulled from other places and spaces, but even the idea of uh couples and then one spouse, you know, hurts the other, and it's just like, oh, what does that mean if people are interconnected and they love each other? Maybe we should put this in that. Like it was just yeah, with horror, we're kind of pulling from everywhere. Um, we even had horror movies playing in the background as we're doing wardrobe and getting our hair. We had long legs playing in the background, we had terrifier, which I that might be a little much for me, but Karia loves terrifier, so that was boring. That was really funny, but yeah, we just kind of like pulled from different places of inspiration, and it was also really cool because I I used to work in a haunted house as an actor, and we would have makeup. I'm from Colorado, so it was in Colorado like a while ago, but we would have makeup and people come in, and then there were some times when they weren't able because it was like a freelancer type of thing. And so we would just have to do our own makeup. And from there, I started to really enjoy learning how to do stuff like cuts and burns and boils, and in acting school, we did that as well. And then with this project, we were like, who's gonna do the who's gonna do the horror makeup? And I was like, Well, I'll try. And that ended up being really fun because it's we all know that it's magic and it's it's movies, but it's really fun to to rip the latex and put the dip all the blood on there and see the see the stuff stuff is really really fun. So that was fun too. It was just like a lot of trial and error and skeleton crew, and that's what makes it fun though. We are now sort of scrambling to figure out how we're gonna have the perfect light for when it was overall really fun.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

That is so cool. Yeah, yeah, it sounds creative, creatively freeing, like just to you know, be in charge, make your own mistake, you know.

SPEAKER_06 26:06

I don't know. A lot of people in the industry, they've they do express, make your own stuff, make your own stuff, do your own stuff, make your own stuff. And in my mind for a while, I'm like, no, no, they're they're gonna pick me. They're gonna pick, you know, you know, it's just like, no, we're gonna have, I'm not gonna make my own stuff. I'm gonna and being so stubborn like that didn't really help me go anywhere creatively. And I'm like, what is the harm in in making your own stuff? But I think it's because I also didn't have the confidence in myself. It's just sort of like, let casting, let the directors, they'll see it in me. I just they'll see it, but I have to see it in myself too. It's like, how do I how do I navigate that? So I was kind of really against making something on my own for a while. Um Maria really gave that push. Uh, and same with Amber, honestly. I think it's one of the hardest things I've ever done so far, but um it's been the most rewarding.

SPEAKER_02 27:08

Yeah, it's I'm sure it's a very vulnerable place to be, but I I bet yeah, I just I think I would feel even doing these podcasts, even doing community theater that I've done, it's just felt so expressive. And you get to touch so many people. That's what I think matters, right? And yeah, of course you want to be good at it, of course. But but that I think comes if you find the right team.

SPEAKER_06 27:41

I like what you said there about like reach, you know, with film and community theaters, and like it's there's reach there. And I mean, especially now with talks of AI and all that whole takeover, of course, sort of going back to the bare bones of of theater and play and space, and that's that's what's fun. Practical. It kind of brings you back.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

Yeah, yeah. I love that stuff. When I go back and watch old films, and you're like completely amazed they did all that without CGI. I'm like, that's the shit, that's the stuff, you know.

SPEAKER_06 28:27

Yes, oh my gosh, it's just and not even, you know, it's like we gotta put the the string on here, we gotta hook it to here, and then just hope it happens and we'll pull it. And yeah, that's actually really fun to watch in horror films. In the past, like one of my favorite films is Nightmare on Elm Street, the original. Yeah, I'm just like, how many buckets did you have at that point in time to do all these things? And um yeah, that those that that is what makes it fun too. Yeah, that sort of um, you don't have this reliance on technology, it's just what you have imagined, and we're gonna DIY this this shit.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

What I want for super young people is to go back and see those things, you know. Yes, we don't just we've always had CGI, you know.

SPEAKER_06 29:23

Yes, it's always just sort of like training the eye to and also because I did I watched a horror, there's a new film that came out called Obsession. I don't know if you've seen that making the rounds, but I did watch that last night, and I thought because I kept thinking about the jump scares that they were doing, and they were very they were a lot more clever than prior, and they were a lot more devious and a lot more bizarre. So it's kind of nice to even see that change and evolve because in in older films you will see, you're like, okay, I think I know what's gonna happen, and then it happens, right? And so people sort of go off of that formula for a while. Even the types of scares are the way that the the that horror films do these kind of new tactic scares is is really interesting. Is there a film that like totally scares you though, and you're like, I'm not gonna do it?

SPEAKER_02 30:26

Well, I can't watch uh home invasion stuff, I just can't. Oh I don't I've said it before on this podcast, but my home was burglarized when I was seven. And oh no, no one was home, but they did they killed our dog. Like it was traumatic for us.

SPEAKER_05 30:46

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Yeah. And uh ever since then, A, I used to have nightmares about it, but B, I do not want to watch Oh my God. I know it was that makes sense. Yep.

SPEAKER_06 31:00

Holy crap.

SPEAKER_02 31:01

Panic Room, that movie with Jodie Foster.

SPEAKER_05 31:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 31:06

I thought I was gonna hyperventilate. I was like, I can't, I can't do this.

unknown 31:10

No.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

I was like, oh my god, like I'm done.

SPEAKER_05 31:16

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_06 31:17

Yeah, it's sometimes one of those things where it's like, no, no, watch a nice, but I can't, you know. Yeah, you're like invasion, it's not happening.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

No, and I love a good demonic possession. I do.

SPEAKER_06 31:36

Oh that's my would you want to be possessed, like have that feeling of like if it was an acting sort of thing? Do you kind of enjoy that idea of sort of going everywhere with it? I mean, that would kind of be fun, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

Like Exorcist, uh it's one of my favorites. I love that whole genre. I love supernatural things and yes, you know, I love it.

SPEAKER_06 32:04

The conjuring is really good. I just saw that a few weeks ago.

SPEAKER_02 32:08

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 32:09

Those films, yeah. I can't really do Saw anymore, though. I mean, I I left that like the the second film, but I'm just like, oh my god, I can't do that.

SPEAKER_02 32:21

It feels too real, right?

SPEAKER_06 32:23

I was like, oh my god, what would I do if I was in this situation?

SPEAKER_02 32:27

No. I actually had nightmares after watching that kind of torture porn stuff.

SPEAKER_06 32:32

I can't oh yeah, yeah, no, I think it's like, okay, this is a little intense. I remember my sister's a horror fan too, and we would watch stuff like Dawn of the Dead and The Crazies, like some zombie takeovers are kind of fun too. And those scenarios, you'd think, okay, how am I gonna survive if I, you know? Um I think that's another reason why I enjoy horror, because it's like a fly on the wall for these incredibly upsetting and disturbing happenings, whether it's grounded in realism or if it's this different world. But there are circumstances that we normally wouldn't find ourselves in or that we would not want to find ourselves in. And um it does give that fly on the wall into a situation where you're like, shit, does this really happen to people or does has this happened in life or in the world? And it's interesting in that way in my mind. Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 33:46

Yeah, because how else, you know, aside from working with some people like that, how else would you experience zombies? How would you know?

SPEAKER_04 33:55

Right, exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 34:00

I might edit that now, but oh great. Well, uh, one of the last questions we always like to ask, and you might already know this is coming. Uh who's your favorite final person in a horror film? And it's difficult to have a favorite, I know, but that is a good question. I know.

SPEAKER_05 34:25

Oh my god. That is a good question.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

This is a perfect time for me to do a little shout out to Adrian King, who was the final person in the first Friday the 13th. She was one of our very earliest guests on this podcast.

SPEAKER_04 34:42

Oh my god! That's amazing!

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Yeah, she's so sweet.

SPEAKER_06 34:48

Oh wow, okay. So she knows she's like, I was that. Yeah, I've been through it, I've been that final girl. Yeah, I would have to say maybe Cabin in the Woods. Oh, it's such a farcical, crazy outletish horror film.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Yep.

SPEAKER_06 35:14

Even though everything all goes to shit, I just kind of love how what it was like the two characters at the end, and it was like they were all dead, and they're just looking at each other, and it was just like, Yeah, okay, well, nothing could be crazier than this fucking shit. So yeah, I would have to say that. Also, evil dead. I kind of like how it's this psychological and physical takeover, but then there's also a way to extract that and you sort of come on top, or the person that's possessed actually does that. But you know, yeah, but I I'd have to say, I'd have to say those.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Yeah, I love it. And we recently watched Cabin in the Woods again. Yes, like constant rotation, you know.

SPEAKER_06 36:00

It's like because there's some horror films where I'm like cleaning and it's on the background, and like someone's head is you know, just like okay, well, still gonna vacuum. And yeah, Cabin in the Woods is one of those where I have on in the background sometimes too.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Absolutely. I can wash dishes and you know, all kinds of yes.

SPEAKER_06 36:22

And sometimes I'll like turn down the volume because I'm like, oh find my neighbors walking by so bad.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

In general, now it's now it's spring, and we'll have our windows open a lot more often. And I wonder what people must think when they're walking their dogs past our house. I have literally yelled out and said, We're fine in here. We're fine. This is just television.

SPEAKER_06 36:53

We're okay. It is our incredibly great speakers and this film.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Yep, we just put that TV room in the front of the house we shouldn't have, but yeah. And Corey does love his bass. My God, it shakes the house.

SPEAKER_06 37:07

But especially with horror, because you know, the ominous music comes on and you're just like, oh, here we go. Your your podcast, like it's just it's so cool. And to have a place and space where people have a commonality, and like I was saying before, we're so happy to do whatever.

Corey 37:28

That was cool. Great. That was cool. Thanks for listening to this episode of Horror Heals. One thing that really got me with Kendall and Ray is the idea that horror gives us permission to feel everything we're usually told to keep inside: fear, grief, anger, hope, regret, joy, even laughter. Ray talks about Soul Sisters as a story about fractured family relationships, trust that's broken, and the way childhood trauma continues to shape the choices we make as adults. She also intentionally leaves room for humor, because that's real life too. Sometimes the darkest stories are also the funniest, and sometimes the people who have been through the most are the first ones to make you laugh. I also appreciated hearing Kendall share how horror helped him after losing his dad, and how the genre continues to be a place where he can process emotions that don't always have words. Ray immediately understood that instinct because horror doesn't ask us to suppress our feelings, it invites us to experience them. We're excited to see where Soul Sisters goes next, whether it's another short, a feature, or maybe even a series. The world Ray and her collaborators are building is full of complicated families, complicated choices, and just enough Halloween magic to keep us wanting more. Ray, thanks for sharing your creativity, your kindness, and your love of horror with us. And remember, is horror good for mental wellness? Of course it is. The Horror Heels Podcast is produced by Mosaic Multimedia.